‘Addiction Machine’: Tennessee Takes Meta to Trial for Child Endangerment
Jul 30, 2026 by FACT
Opening arguments began this week in Tennessee's lawsuit against Meta over claims the company built Instagram specifically to be “an addiction machine” for minors.
“Meta has known for years that Instagram causes psychological harm to young users. Rather than take steps to reduce or disclose the harm, Meta leaned further into its profit-maximizing approach that hurts kids,” Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti explained. “Targeting kids with a harmful product and lying about its safety violates the Tennessee Consumer Protection Act. Meta knows every last design decision that made Instagram addictive to kids and that means it knows exactly how to fix the problem. We’re suing to make the company fix the problem.
Background
The journey to this lawsuit began in 2021, when Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen released internal documents showing Meta knew its platforms were harming young users, especially teenage girls. This sparked attorneys general from nearly every state to open a collaborative investigation into the issue, which AG Skrmetti co-led with Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser for two years.
As a result of the investigation, 42 attorneys general took legal action against Meta – 33 in a joint federal complaint, and 9 filing their own lawsuits in state court. Tennessee chose the latter path, with AG Skrmetti explaining: "This is not just about Meta, but as one of the biggest players and as an entity where there's clear evidence of misleading the public and making deliberate decisions that hurt kids, I think it's appropriate that we lead off with this particular lawsuit."
The first two of more than 2,600 pending cases against social media companies over youth harm were litigated in March, with both juries siding against Meta, giving credence to Tennessee's case. In New Mexico, a jury ordered Meta to pay $375 million to the state, finding the company misled users about safety and enabled the sexual exploitation of children. In California, a jury awarded $6 million to a young woman in a private personal injury lawsuit, finding Meta and Google liable for the depression and suicidal thoughts she developed after becoming addicted to Instagram and YouTube as a child.
Tennessee’s Case
Tennessee's case centers on what is known as "The Attention Economy" – the idea that Meta's business model depends on maximizing how long kids stay on the app, then tracking their behavior to sell that attention to advertisers. One internal email from 2016 shown to the jury revealed that CEO Mark Zuckerberg made teen time-on-app a company priority.
“Instagram did not become so addictive by accident. Meta dedicated vast resources to understand Young Users’ psychology and behavior so it could better exploit Young Users’ developmental vulnerabilities through irresistible design features. Meta did this to capture an ever-increasing amount of Young Users’ time and data, for the benefit of Meta’s business,” Tennessee’s complaint states.
Tennessee’s lawyers also revealed that Meta’s researchers repeatedly flagged that teenagers were compulsively using Instagram, leading to eating disorders, depression, and self-harm – and that despite those warnings, Meta continued to use features like autoplay, endless notifications, and infinite scroll.
As one attorney put it, children have "the gas pedal" but not "the brakes." A child's brain isn't fully developed until around age 25, meaning they are more vulnerable to this form of engineered compulsion than adults are.
Tennessee also presented CDC data showing nearly 43% of Tennessee teens reported feeling "sad and hopeless,” and 20% have made a plan for how they would attempt suicide. No one is claiming social media is the only cause of that crisis. But the evidence that social media platforms are a major factor is indisputable.
"We're dealing with a company that has unlimited resources," AG Skrmetti warned ahead of trial, describing how Meta "optimized their product over decades using neuroscientists and casino designers and A/B testing on the big scale level."
FACT will be watching this trial closely in the weeks ahead and will keep you updated along the way. Click here to sign up for our weekly newsletter. Tennessee families deserve better, and we’re thankful AG Skrmetti is holding Big Tech accountable, one step at a time.
FACT remains committed to protecting Tennessee's children and standing with parents against institutions that put profit ahead of their well-being. If this news concerns you, consider supporting our work.
“Meta has known for years that Instagram causes psychological harm to young users. Rather than take steps to reduce or disclose the harm, Meta leaned further into its profit-maximizing approach that hurts kids,” Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti explained. “Targeting kids with a harmful product and lying about its safety violates the Tennessee Consumer Protection Act. Meta knows every last design decision that made Instagram addictive to kids and that means it knows exactly how to fix the problem. We’re suing to make the company fix the problem.
Background
The journey to this lawsuit began in 2021, when Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen released internal documents showing Meta knew its platforms were harming young users, especially teenage girls. This sparked attorneys general from nearly every state to open a collaborative investigation into the issue, which AG Skrmetti co-led with Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser for two years.
As a result of the investigation, 42 attorneys general took legal action against Meta – 33 in a joint federal complaint, and 9 filing their own lawsuits in state court. Tennessee chose the latter path, with AG Skrmetti explaining: "This is not just about Meta, but as one of the biggest players and as an entity where there's clear evidence of misleading the public and making deliberate decisions that hurt kids, I think it's appropriate that we lead off with this particular lawsuit."
The first two of more than 2,600 pending cases against social media companies over youth harm were litigated in March, with both juries siding against Meta, giving credence to Tennessee's case. In New Mexico, a jury ordered Meta to pay $375 million to the state, finding the company misled users about safety and enabled the sexual exploitation of children. In California, a jury awarded $6 million to a young woman in a private personal injury lawsuit, finding Meta and Google liable for the depression and suicidal thoughts she developed after becoming addicted to Instagram and YouTube as a child.
Tennessee’s Case
Tennessee's case centers on what is known as "The Attention Economy" – the idea that Meta's business model depends on maximizing how long kids stay on the app, then tracking their behavior to sell that attention to advertisers. One internal email from 2016 shown to the jury revealed that CEO Mark Zuckerberg made teen time-on-app a company priority.
“Instagram did not become so addictive by accident. Meta dedicated vast resources to understand Young Users’ psychology and behavior so it could better exploit Young Users’ developmental vulnerabilities through irresistible design features. Meta did this to capture an ever-increasing amount of Young Users’ time and data, for the benefit of Meta’s business,” Tennessee’s complaint states.
Tennessee’s lawyers also revealed that Meta’s researchers repeatedly flagged that teenagers were compulsively using Instagram, leading to eating disorders, depression, and self-harm – and that despite those warnings, Meta continued to use features like autoplay, endless notifications, and infinite scroll.
As one attorney put it, children have "the gas pedal" but not "the brakes." A child's brain isn't fully developed until around age 25, meaning they are more vulnerable to this form of engineered compulsion than adults are.
Tennessee also presented CDC data showing nearly 43% of Tennessee teens reported feeling "sad and hopeless,” and 20% have made a plan for how they would attempt suicide. No one is claiming social media is the only cause of that crisis. But the evidence that social media platforms are a major factor is indisputable.
"We're dealing with a company that has unlimited resources," AG Skrmetti warned ahead of trial, describing how Meta "optimized their product over decades using neuroscientists and casino designers and A/B testing on the big scale level."
FACT will be watching this trial closely in the weeks ahead and will keep you updated along the way. Click here to sign up for our weekly newsletter. Tennessee families deserve better, and we’re thankful AG Skrmetti is holding Big Tech accountable, one step at a time.
